Celebrating the grand opening of the SF Film Society | New People Cinema, a state-of-the-art venue for art, independent and world cinema, San Francisco Film Society offers an open house reception and ribbon cutting with food, drink, musical performances and screenings in the theater itself throughout the night. More info at sffs.org.

SFMOMA's Opera on Film series continues with a screening of Otto Preminger's 'Carmen Jones,' based on George Bizet's 'Carmen' but recast as a WWII-era yarn with an all-black cast featuring Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge, who received an Oscar nom for her performance. Screening will be preceded by an introduction and live performance by entrancing New York artist Kalup Linzy. More info at sfmoma.org.

SF Museum of Modern Art's Opera on Film series screens Jean-Jacques Beineix's under-appreciated 'Diva' on Thursday. The Caesar Award-winning romance/thriller hybrid deftly handles a complex, opera-centric plot littered with brilliant pop-art inspired chase scenes and features a number of standout performances, including those by Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon and real-life opera singer Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez. More info sfmoma.org.

Louie Psihoyos' and Roc O'Barry's immersive, award-winning eco-doc 'The Cove' screens with a live performance by Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and post-film discussion with both directors at the Smith Rafael. Ticket sales benefit the Earth Island Institute and Save Japan Dolphins. More at cafilm.org.

Wim Wenders' gorgeous time capsule 'Wings of Desire,' later remade as 'City of Angels,' features striking views of Berlin from the air and an electrifying musical performance by Nick Cave. Wenders regular, master thesp Bruno Ganz stars. Plays at Red Vic, more info Redvic.com

The Castro Theatre hosts as SF Sketchfest and Midnight Mass present Idol Worship: An Evening with Cloris Leachman, which will offers a screening of Mel Brooks’ ‘High Anxiety’ and drag queen music performances including exchanges with Cloris Leachman. More at castrotheatre.com.

Jordan Biren, Tony Labat and Anne McGuire appear in person for the Radical Light program Post-Conceptual Performance: Video, 1977 to 1997, which looks at the artist's body as the medium in works by Biren, McGuire, Labat, Leslie Singer, Doug Hall and Cecilia Dougherty. More at press.bampfa.berkeley.edu/radical.

George Hickenlooper’s final film, ‘Casino Jack,’ features Kevin Spacey in the true story of Jack Abramoff, a Washington D.C. lobbyist whose unabashed greed and reckless behavior throws him and his colleagues into a world of thugs and criminals who solve problems the old-fashioned way. More at landmarktheatres.com.

San Francisco Film Society presents the world premiere of John Darnielle’s score to Mauritz Stiller’s silent masterpiece ‘Sir Arne’s Treasure.’ The celebrated singer-songwriter plays live at the Castro Theatre to accompany the film. More at sffs.org.

San Francisco Film Society presents the world premiere of John Darnielle’s score to Mauritz Stiller’s silent masterpiece ‘Sir Arne’s Treasure.’ The celebrated singer-songwriter plays live at the Castro Theatre to accompany the film. More at sffs.org.

Taking the legendary director of 'Rosemary's Baby,' 'Chinatown' and 'The Pianist' out of headlines and back to his filmmaking and geographic roots, this program pairs a live performance by Warsaw electro-acoustic duo Sza/Za with early Polanski shorts at Letterman Digital Arts Center’s Premier Theater. More at sffs.org.

'Straight to Hell Returns,' Alex Cox’s re-tweaked version of his bloody spaghetti western parody, featuring performances by Dennis Hopper, Jim Jarmusch and Courtney Love, arrives at the Roxie Theater in time to scare up some laughs on Halloween. Director Alex Cox appears in person to talk about the film's added scenes or anything else you have in mind. More at roxie.com.

Marc Huestis presents the '80s horror classic at the Castro Theatre with a tribute to star JoBeth Williams preceding the screening. This special event includes (of course) a live performance, and it's titled ‘Poltergayest, A Horrific Fashion Show.’ An autograph signing concludes the night’s otherworldly celebration. More at castrotheatre.com.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival offer plenty to chew on in the series Tough Guys: Images of Jewish Gangsters in Film. Mervyn LeRoys’ ‘Little Caesar’ has Edward G. Robinson as an Italian gangster in a breakout performance. The series plays through the month of October. More at ybca.org.

Free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor is captured in performance and interviewed in Christopher Felver’s documentary ‘Cecil Taylor: All the Notes’. A discussion between Felver and California Poet Laureate Al Young follows the screening at the Smith Rafael Film Center.

Zac Holtzman scores The Lost World with Dengue Fever, creating a sound that has been described as a psychedelic version of vintage Cambodian rock'n'roll, fueled by Cambodian singer Chhom Nimol's vocal stylings and Ethan Holtzman's organ and accordion shadings.

In addition to bringing a host of worldwide performers to the Bay Area for the first time, the San Francisco International Arts Festival (May 2-June 8), now in its fifth year, has become an indispensable showcase for collaborative work by leading Bay Area artists and their peers across all manner of geographical, cultural and disciplinary borders. The more than 40 performances in this year’s lineup, taking place at 14 separate venues across the city and in Berkeley, span the worlds of dance, music, opera, theater, visual arts and multidisciplinary work. The following four highlights are all hybrid productions with strong film and/or video components.

In addition to bringing a host of worldwide performers to the Bay Area for the first time, the San Francisco International Arts Festival (May 2-June 8), now in its fifth year, has become an indispensable showcase for collaborative work by leading Bay Area artists and their peers across all manner of geographical, cultural and disciplinary borders. The more than 40 performances in this year’s lineup, taking place at 14 separate venues across the city and in Berkeley, span the worlds of dance, music, opera, theater, visual arts and multidisciplinary work. The following four highlights are all hybrid productions with strong film and/or video components.

Motherhood has supposedly had a slowing-down effect on Asia Argento, though at present evidence points rather wildly to the contrary. Not only does she star in this week’s San Francisco International Film Festival official opener, Catherine Breillat’s costume intrigue The Last Mistress, she also figures heavily in two other SFIFF features. Both are programmed in the culty "Late Show" section: Go Go Tales, Abel Ferrara’s most acclaimed film in years, and The Mother of Tears, a latest horror opus directed by her own fan-idolized gorehound dad Dario Argento. A couple weeks ago yet another vehicle opened commercially, Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate, which is entirely dominated by her feverish and highly physical performance.

Conventional logic might suggest all this visibility means it’s "breakthrough" time for Asia Argento, that moment when an actor goes from being a familiar face to a marquee name that can singlehandedly draw folks into the multiplex, or at least the arthouse. (In Europe she’s already quite well-known.) But as her project choices among other things bear out, Argento probably isn’t very interested in becoming a "star" in the conventional sense. In fact, she seems the girl most likely to run from any such fate.